An angler from Texas has alerted their nearly 39,000 TikTok followers about the dire situation in Lake Ray Hubbard in Dallas.
Jason Borofka (@jasonborofka) captured the scene in a minute-long TikTok video, and while it was brief, it was definitely impactful.
@jasonborofka This is Dallas Fort Worths drinking water. Lake Ray Hubbard #dfw #dallas #dallastx #pollution #texas #rockwalltx #garlandtx #planotx #texasbassfishing #lakerayhubbard #fishinglife #bassnation #tx #irving #friscotx #viral ♬ Very Sad - Enchan
Borofka began the video by asking "Do you want to see something disgusting?" before showing the lake full of trash, including "condoms, dirty diapers [and] bags of trash," that they said stretches for "miles and miles."
"I don't care if you fish, or if you don't fish, or if you don't boat, you at least drink the water," Borofka said. "This stuff is so fricking disgusting. I've been all over the country fishing and there's only been a couple of places in my life that I've seen this much garbage."
Borofka was at a loss, unsure of what to do next. But they called on their followers to share the video to increase awareness about the state of the lake, with hopes to clean it up soon.
It's a disturbing sight — and unfortunately not exclusive to Lake Ray Hubbard.
According to Dallas City Hall, the city gets its drinking water from six lakes, including Ray Hubbard, Grapevine, Lewisville, Ray Roberts, Tawakoni, and Fork. If the water has this much garbage, imagine the resources required to make it suitable for consumption.
That's not to mention the environmental impact. The fish Borofka would be looking to catch would be greatly harmed by the pollution, from nano- and microplastics that would be easily ingested, larger plastic or other trash pieces that could cause a choking hazard, and the harmful chemicals that would leach into the water from various items.
The area is also home to raccoons, opossums, coyotes, squirrels, and snakes, among other creatures, and their habitats could just as easily be affected by the trash, as well as similar ingestion issues if they mistake the garbage for food.
While trash pollution is a huge issue in water sources, there are some creative solutions being utilized to clear up the mess. A robotic fish created at the University of Surrey in England can swim through waterways and eat plastic, while a floating barrier is collecting garbage in the River Soar in Leicestershire, also in England.
"I'm from Texas & that's probably the worst I've seen in Texas," said one disappointed TikToker in the comments for Borofka's video. "Texans usually don't litter."
"Sad as hell," said another. "Unfortunately newcomers just trash everywhere. I constantly see people just throwing trash out their car windows like it's nothing."
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